Reflections for a New Year

As we say goodbye to the year 2015 and welcome 2016, it is normal to reflect upon the past year and to plan for the future. We hope to leave behind the sad or hard times and wish for happier and healthier times in the coming year. The New Year is a time to pause and take stock of our life, our goals and our relationships with a view to make the future better.

The New Year is not the only time that we review our lives and try to make improvements. When we turn another year older, it is common to think about where we have come from and where we are going. Birthdays that end in a zero (like 40) or a five (like 65) may have more of an impact emotionally. When we are young, we imagine what our life will be like and what we will have achieved when we are 40 years old or if we will be able to retire when we are 65 years old.

Experiencing a loss like the death of a loved one or a divorce also leads to re-evaluating our life and re-adjusting our plans for the future as we adapt to our loss. It is important (both emotionally and psychologically) to pay attention to these times in life that lead us to pause and reflect .

Many times we simply begin down the road of life that starts when we finish high school and our life road may include college, military, career, marriage, kids, travel, etc. We can become so focused on staying on our “road” and getting to our destination that we forget to stop periodically and make sure that we are on the right road for us. When the New Year, our birthday or a loss makes us stop for a moment, it is a good opportunity to remind ourselves (or rediscover) what is truly important to us (our values) and our goals in life. Some people may find that they are not living their lives according to their values or that they find their goals have changed somewhat. We can use these pauses to re-adjust our path and maybe change our direction a little bit so that we are living our lives authentically and reach our goals.

As a therapist, I truly love working with clients who have discovered that they need to re-adjust their path in life. These adjustments could be a career change or shift; it could be deciding that a committed relationship has become unhealthy or unhappy; it could be that we are not being the parents that we wish to be to our children. In counseling we get to explore what is truly meaningful to us and forge a path to get there. When we set out in life as young adults, we may fail to take into account that what we truly want in life may change as we age. This is normal process and is only a bad thing when we fail to pay attention to how we have evolved as a person and fail to recognize that we need to change paths a little bit.

I hope that this holiday season and the New Year find my friends, family and clients happy and safe.